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The disclosed system relates generally to automated traffic violation enforcement, and more specifically to a system for detecting and filtering non-violation events in order to more effectively allocate resources within a traffic violation detection and recording system.
An automated traffic light violation detection and recording system may include and manage many resources which operate in cooperation to detect and/or record one or more traffic light violations. Such resources could include one or more cameras, memory for storing files of information or data related to detected violations, software processes for controlling hardware components used to record and/or otherwise process a violation, and others.
In particular, if large files of information are to be stored in association with each recorded violation event, these files may need to be communicated to an office remote from the intersection, where such files must be reviewed by an officer to determine whether the recorded activities are, in fact, a citationable action.
During operation, however, an automated traffic light violation detection and recording system may sometimes allocate resources to record events that are non-violation events. In such an event, some or all of the above discussed resources may be made unavailable to record or predict actual violation events, thus reducing the effectiveness of the system.
For the above reasons it would be desirable to have a non-violation event filtering system which reduces the amount of resources within a traffic light violation detection and recording system that are allocated to record and/or report non-violation actions. The system should be flexibly configurable with respect to the definition of non-violation events, and accordingly be adaptable to a variety of intersections and jurisdictions. Further, the system should enable resources that are not used to record or report non-violation events to be used to record other potential violators, thus improving the odds that a more actual violations will be recorded and reported.
A system and method for detecting and filtering non-violation events in a traffic light violation prediction and recording system is disclosed, including at least one violation prediction image capturing device, such as a video camera, and a violation prediction unit. In an illustrative embodiment, the violation prediction unit is a software thread which operates in response to at least one violation prediction image derived from the output of the image capturing device, and a current light phase of a traffic signal. The violation prediction image may, for example, be one of multiple digitized video images showing a vehicle approaching an intersection controlled by the traffic signal. The prediction unit generates a prediction reflecting a probability that the vehicle will violate a red light phase of the traffic signal.
A non-violation event filter determines whether the vehicle approaching the traffic signal is actually performing a non-violation action. Non-violation events may include a variety of actions performed by the vehicle, and are fully configurable to meet the needs and policies of various specific intersections and jurisdictions. For example, non-violation events may include permitted right turns during a red light phase, not passing over a virtual violation line while the traffic signal is red, passing through the intersection within a predetermined time period after the traffic signal turns red, and creeping forward into the intersection while the signal is red.
When the non-violation event filter determines that the vehicle is performing a non-violation action, it may deallocate some number of resources that may have been allocated to recording the vehicle, and/or prevents further resources from being allocated to such recording. These resources may, for example, include an image file to store the violation images, or one or more violation prediction image capturing devices. Such resources may then be allocated to recording other vehicles which are potentially going to violate a red light phase of the traffic signal. Additionally, the disclosed system can be used to prevent the forwarding of image data relating to a non-violation event to a remote server for further processing, thus conserving resources in that regard as well.
Accordingly there is disclosed a non-violation event filtering system which reduces the amount of resources within a traffic light violation detection and recording system that are allocated to recording non-violation actions. The disclosed system is flexibly configurable with respect to the definition of non-violation events, and thus can be adapted to a variety of intersections and jurisdictions. Further, the disclosed system enables resources that are not used to record or report non-violation events to be used to record other potential violators, thus improving the odds that more actual violations will be recorded and reported.